EDGE CITY: Amazon.ca: Joel Garreau: Books

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Garreau ( The Nine Nations of North America ) shows that Americans, weary of daily commutes between suburb and city, are developing concentrated communities near major metropolitan areas that blend home, workplace, schools and recreation. He calls these all-inclusive urban centers "edge cities": among them, White Plains, near Manhattan; King of Prussia, outside of Philadelphia; Scottsdale and Tempe, adjacent to Phoenix. Nine chapters on specific regions include interviews with modern "pioneers," professionals who have chosen the edge-city lifestyle, and planners such as controversial Northern Virginia developer John T. (Til) Hazel. Edge-city proponents make a case for practicality, safety and cultural growth, while detractors cite bland artificiality and environmental threats in the expanding realm of industrial parks and strip malls. Garreau maintains a casual style, incorporating statistical data, historical references and regional trivia into an eminently readable, thought-provoking, optimistic text.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Garreau's rather indifferently written tome, originally produced as a series of Washington Post articles, describes the phenomenon of Edge Cities that have sprung up in various areas of the nation, usually in close proximity to intersecting highways and urban areas. These entities are found in former rural or residential areas and contain office and retail space, a population that increases at 9 a.m. on working days, and a local perception of the Edge City as the final destination for mixed-use shopping, jobs, and entertainment. Garreau describes how developers, planners, politicians, and others have combined in such areas as Northern and Central New Jersey, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Phoenix, Southern California, and the San Francisco Bay region to erect these new entities. He also discusses such interesting trends as the newly emergent black upper middle class in the Atlanta environs and the neo-Civil War battle to preserve the Manassas battlefield site in Virginia from developers. For general collections. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 5/15/91.
-Norman Lederer, Thaddeus Stevens State Sch. of Technology, Lancaster, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars Detroit Chapter Bears Re-reading, April 29 2009

By

G. Perkins (Toronto, ON Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Paperback)

As others have noted before me, this book gives a decent account of how the automobile changed municipal development in North America over the course of the twentieth century. It also assumes the viewpoint that all Americans are and will always be motorists, and this is where Garreau's sermon on Edge City falls apart.

With the demise of Detroit in the wake of the 2008-2009 economic crisis, all the ideas that Garreau loves so much about car-centric suburban design have fallen flat on their face, and have left the inhabitants of Detroit without jobs, too isolated from amenities to remain in Detroit without automobile assisted transport, and stuck with a city so un-designed by the natural laws of developers that without the car, it has no meaning.

This book now offers something very different to its readers than it did just two years ago, it provides a bible of how not to build a city.

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5.0 out of 5 stars On the Edge, April 19 2004

By

Maddi Hausmann Sojourner "madhaus" (Silicon Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Paperback)

This was the first book on cities and planning I ever read, and I was captivated through most of it. Filled with fascinating views on how real estate and commerce work together, this book ties together views of different metropoles as they develop their "Edge Cities," grown-up suburbs that are more than bedroom communities. These Edge Cities have overwhelmed the central city that gave birth to them, as suburbanites find them easier to commute to (at first), and certainly cleaner than the "real city." Gridlock and sprawl are the result as the Edge Cities go up everywhere.

And I still remember my eagerness in reading this terrific book, city after city, looking forward to the San Francisco chapter... and my crushing disappointment when Garreau discussed not Silicon Valley, the quintessential Edge City, but... Concord. Concord? How did he miss Silicon Valley, at the intersection of 85 and 280, or 101 and 880, or... (Garreau feels freeway junctions lead to Edge Cities)

Okay, other than my personal disappointment that he missed the real story, that the suburban metroplex is none other than San Jose/Santa Clara/Cupertino/Sunnyvale/Mountain View/Palo Alto/Redwood City this is still a great book. The endpapers show the contrast between Tyson's Corners postwar and in the nineties, and what a contrast it is.

This book goes well with "Suburban Nation," which shows how to avoid the downside of Edge Cities.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Why suburban sprawl is inevitable - say goodbye to downtown, Oct 16 2003

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saskatoonguy (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edge City: Life on the New Frontier (Paperback)

Although this book is over a decade old, it is still a classic on why suburban sprawl is unstoppable, and why those trying to recreate 1920s-style downtowns are doomed to failure. The author is somewhat sympathetic to new urbanists, preservationists, and advocates of mass transit, but he believes that they're overlooking some basic facts: First, Americans will always be motorists. Even if oil becomes expensive, alternative fuels will arise and the car will always be ubiquitous. No one really wants to stand in the pouring rain to board a bus filled with smelly street people and other lowlifes. Second, Americans refuse to walk more than 600 feet, not coincidentally the distance between anchor stores in a large mall. Garreau laments how sterile suburbia has become but argues it is impossible to turn the clock back to the heyday of the American downtown.

There is at least a chapter on each of New Jersey, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Phoenix, Texas, LA, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. There are only 2 photos and 10 maps; more illustrations would have helped. Over 70 pages cover the conflict between preservationists and a developer named Til Hazel regarding the Manassas (Va.) battlefield. The developer is portrayed, not as an unethical monster, but as a salt-of-the-earth entrepreneur who is genuinely mystified why people would be against progress, and mystified why people romanticize past eras in which the standard of living was so dismal

The greatest flaw is the author's wordiness. Time and time again, he bludgeons the reader with repetition and paraphrases, to make sure no one misses his point. It's as though his motto is never to use one sentence when five will do. There is not enough brevity, and he tends to repeat himself (like I am doing right now - isn't it irritating?).

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Thought and Discussion
I first bought this book back when it first came out in 1992. I've lent it out to numerous friends and acquaintances over the following years and it always provoked good... Read more

Published on April 28 2002 by Richard Quarles

5.0 out of 5 stars Optimistic about an uncertain future?
Joel Garreau is a good story teller about life on the new suburban frontier. His writing style reminds me of Jane Jacobs and her classic "Death and Life of Great American Cities. Read more

Published on April 12 2002 by Dick Bjornseth